


Blush

by paradoxmachine



Series: Cardinal Red [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternative Troll Genitalia, Enthusiastic Consent, Feelings, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Meteorstuck, Mutual Masturbation, Quadrant Confusion, Talking, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 21:28:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5264252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxmachine/pseuds/paradoxmachine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out, dating an alien's a little bit complicated. Who would have thought?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blush

**Author's Note:**

> The part 2 that I didn't realize was going to be a part 2. This stands alone fine if you don't want to read the first part for whatever reason. Definitely not the fanon standard troll junk, so... hope you like something a little different!

Morning came, as it always did; despite that fact that, in what could be called this “place” and this “time,” sentiments like night and day were nothing more than meaningless abstractions plucked from their previous existences and superimposed into persistent rituals like “mornings” and “breakfasts” and all that absolute nonsense. Well, okay, maybe breakfasts weren’t so bad. But waking up had never sat well with Dave, just as going to sleep never had, either.

The first thing his semi-conscious mind registered was the thin layer of sweat that coated his skin despite the chill in the room, and the sticky way the sheets clung to him because of it. Dull memories of his night’s tribulations swam behind his still-closed eyelids, but already they were fading into nothing but brief images snatched from obscurity. More powerful than the dreams themselves were the feeling they left behind. It was an aching in his chest like he was simultaneously full to bursting and yet somehow hollow, empty in a way that could never be filled. Like he’d left something behind in his dreams, maybe the most valuable part of himself.

So much for sweet dreams, he thought, and it was only then that he remembered the night before. Falling asleep cradled in Karkat’s arms, and the feel of his breath against his bare skin. Dave felt chills crawling up his arms, and he opened his eyes not knowing what to expect. An empty room, maybe, to suit the sudden ache he felt at Karkat’s absence from his side. Whatever feelsy bullshit they talked about sometimes, the nature of their “relationship” was so… undefined. Better that way probably, free of the expectations that came with the labels, because he kinda doubted Karkat knew how to be a boyfriend any more than _he_ knew how to be a matesprit, or kismesis, or whatever. Or any more than he knew how to be a boyfriend, for that matter.

Still, it would be nice to wake up and not be alone.

Dave redacted this sentiment immediately when his eyes adjusted to the dull lighting in the room and he registered the silhouette perched at the end of his bed.  
“Mother fffffAUG!” he shouted, reflexively groping for something to shield him and coming up with only a pillow. Luckily the assailant’s blow never came, because it was just Karkat hunched over a book. He looked back at Dave over his shoulder, only mildly alarmed at the outburst, and reached to soothingly pat his foot.  
“How was your sleep?” he asked, as if he didn’t already know.  
Dave let the pillow fall limply into his lap. “Dude, where are my pants?”  
“You kicked them off while you were sleeping.”  
“Alright, cool.”

Dave yawned and rubbed his eyes and did a few cursory stretches to get the blood flowing, (like he needed them after that awakening,) and then groped off the edge of the bed for his glasses. He did not immediately find them, nor could he recall any clues as to where they might have gone. Normally they’d be in his sylladex, but unless they were in Karkat’s they were probably just sitting around. He’d have to turn on the light to- wait.  
“Jesus, how are you reading in the dark?”  
“Dark for you, maybe,” Karkat tsked. “I’m nocturnal, dipshit.”  
“Oh yeah.” Dave flicked on the lamp. He narrowed his eyes at even its dull glow, but was able to spot his glasses at last, on the ground off the foot of the bed. Dave crawled up to sit next to Karkat with no regard for his near nudity, and his companion’s lack of it. Karkat had been shirtless when they'd fallen asleep, but had pulled his sweater back on to read and… lurk, or whatever.

“Where did that come from anyway?” Dave said, “You didn’t have that with you last night.”  
Thinking about Karkat’s whole, being-an-alien thing had reminded him of the nature of last night’s endeavor, and had him wondering if that’s why he was still here. Things had kind of gotten side tracked, but maybe he still wanted to… Dave really didn’t know how to bring that up.  
“No, but I woke up hours ago,” Karkat said dully. “No offense, but human ‘beds’ are shit. So I got it to pass time.”  
“Wait, you left and came back?” said Dave, “Why?”

The change in Karkat’s demeanor was so slight as to be imperceptible to the casual viewer, but Dave noticed the way his eyes narrowed and averted, and his lips tightened. Dave was shamelessly delighted to see Karkat embarrassed.  
“So sue me, I was worried about you,” Karkat said, grimacing. “That’s right, have a good old laugh at me, get it all out. But you’re fucked up when you’re sleeping, you punched me in the face once, that’s why I moved down here.”  
“Oh Jesus, what, I’m sorry.”  
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter-“  
“Shh, no, hold still,” Dave put a hand on Karkat’s cheek and turned him to face him, making sure to meet his eye before he leaned to kiss him. Karkat kissed back, as always just a little too needy, a little too much teeth, just the way that drove Dave crazy. “Better?”

Karkat’s eyebrows were furrowed intensely and the corners of his mouth turned down in a disingenuous frown that could not have been more obvious if he tried. Dave reached up and tapped his nose with his fingertip. “Boop.”  
Karkat’s scowl intensified, before finally hitting breaking point and smoothing into a hesitant and incredulous smile.  
“You’re such a freak, Strider,” he said, rolling his eyes.  
“Yeah, well, you’re-“ Dave had a split second to think, maybe he was about to say something stupid. But as usual that did nothing to stop him, “freakishly overdressed, that’s what I think.”

“Oh, um.” Dave could see Karkat worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. His smile had faded already in a reoccurrence of what Dave considered one of the great Tragedies in his life. Being fleeting made it poetic, or some shit, he guessed. Karkat’s hands balled into fists on his knees and he tensed, and then relaxed. Another smile had taken up position in the other’s wake, this one slight and crooked, showcasing only a glimpse of fang. “Wow, Dave, I didn’t think they were _those_ kind of dreams.”  
“What? No! They weren’t!” Dave insisted defensively, “Not this time, er, I mean, not that I’ve never… I mean, not that I _have_ had, about you, I mean-“  
“Have you?” Karkat asked curiously. He could feel his cheeks warming and could see the flush creeping over Dave’s face and ears.  
“Man, fuck you,” Dave said, shoving his shoulder lightly. “Yeah okay, I have. What about you?”

“No,” said Karkat. “I’m too aware in my dreams. Especially now that our friends or our dead friends or our alternate _selves_ or even complete strangers could show up any time, uninvited. I could _not_ deal with an alternate Karkat showing up to judge my flush dreams. Or an alternate Dave who didn’t…”  
Karkat trailed off, biting his lip again.  
“Jesus, I never thought of that,” said Dave. “Aw fuck, alternate Daves can stay the shit out of my personal business.” He paused. “Alternate Karkats though, wouldn’t mind a few of them in my personal business.”  
It was Karkat’s turn to shove him, just forcefully enough that it made Dave laugh and fall back onto the mattress.  
“Fuck them, they’re all assholes,” Karkat muttered.  
“Like I said,” said Dave, grinning up at him. Dave’s hair was parted awkwardly and sticking up everywhere from his turbulent sleep, and he could probably use a shower. The whites of his eyes were spider-webbed with red, his breath was stale, and Karkat wanted to kiss him more than he wanted anything else in his life right now.

Karkat hooked a leg over him and crawled into his lap, and then did so just because he could. Right now, whatever he was, whatever _they_ were, Dave was _his_.  
Dave made a tiny, surprised sound into his mouth. His arms came up to rest first on Karkat’s shoulders, and then to drape loosely around his waist. When at last they parted, Karkat hovered over him, balanced on the precipice of a decision. Maybe it was easier this time because he’d already made it once the night before. Maybe the circumstances were irrelevant because the undeniable _intent_ had been there for some time now, for both of them.

Karkat carefully peeled off his socks first, before drawing his sweater slowly up over his head, and then letting it fall to the floor. The orange glow of the lamp made his grey skin glow with warmth, and try as he might Dave couldn’t stop himself from staring.  
“Fuck,” he breathed, “Shit, where doing it man.”  
Karkat looked him straight in the eye, dark hair framing his face, dark eyelashes catching the light, his alien eyes bright and enticing as he leaned in close. Close enough their lips brushed together as he spoke.  
“Where making this happen,” Karkat said firmly.

Silence. And then slowly, Karkat’s eyes fell.  
“Wow,” he said awkwardly, “Did… Did you just get a ‘Bon-’mmph!”  
Dave buried his hands in Karkat’s hair and kissed him so hard he made his own head spin, or maybe it was Karkat doing that. Karkat going along with all his bullshit and being just too goddamn wonderful. ‘I love you,’ he thought, not for the first time, and as always didn’t say. The intent had been there too, but the circumstances were a little more delicate on that one.

Karkat’s hands began to wander, his thumbs tracing along Dave’s prominent collar bones, and then down to his chest, over his ribs, his abdomen, and inspecting his navel. Dave’s breath was hitching, coming in sighs stolen between kisses. Dave had never done this before. For all his charades of confidence, he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. Boy or girl or _alien_ , he felt deaf, dumb, and blind. But god, Karkat’s hands felt right, Karkat’s lips and his taste and his everything.

Dave fumbled with the fasten of Karkat’s pants, and then the zipper, and from there the loose fabric slid down on its own. Karkat kicked them off. Their legs tangled together, and Dave slid a hand up the back of Karkat’s thigh, feeling him up and pressing him down against his hips. Karkat’s face had turned scarlet all the way to the tips of his ears.  
“Dave,” he breathed, nuzzling his neck.  
“Mhmmm,” grunted Dave. He kissed Karkat’s forehead, the only thing within reach.  
“Is it okay if I…” Karkat ran a finger along the waistband of Dave’s underwear.  
“Fuuuuuck yes,” said Dave.

Karkat shifted and began to pry away the offending scrap of cloth, and as he did so he saw Dave’s penis for the first time. He felt a little unsettled looking at it. Humans were so similar to trolls in general shape, but that just made the differences all the more uncanny. Still, he’d seen plenty in his “research,” and thought he had a pretty good idea of what to do with it.  
“Dave.”  
“Yeah?”  
“You okay?”  
“More than okay.” Dave hooked an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss.  
‘I love you,’ he thought, but didn’t say. Karkat gave a pleased hum and caught Dave’s bottom lip between his teeth, pulling at it until he gasped, and then sliding his tongue into his mouth. Dave’s hips arched a little, but couldn’t go far with Karkat’s weight on his thighs. Karkat’s head dipped to riddle Dave’s neck with kisses, sucking and biting and definitely leaving marks that would be hard to explain away later. It didn’t matter, everyone already assumed they’d been doing this for ages.

Finally, Karkat’s tentative fingers found his shaft. His other hand curled loosely around the base and sack, uncertain- but the sound Dave made in response was more than enough encouragement.  
“Tell me if I’m fucking it up,” Karkat said quickly.  
“Mmhm,” was all Dave could manage in response. He was biting his lip and his eyelids were drooping, but Karkat could still make out the red of his eyes. ‘Our red,’ Karkat thought, and it made his chest swell with warmth. Dave’s lips parted, forming an unuttered curse word, and his head tilted back. He was stroking Karkat’s hair gently as he worked, his thumb curled around the base of one horn like it was his anchor.  
“Fuuuck, Karkat,” Dave mumbled. His other hand traced down Karkat’s shoulder to his wrist. “H-here, you can… Tighter than that, it’s not gonna snap, and- hhhh… If you rub along here with your thumb.”  
Dave’s hand tightened around Karkat’s, slightly damp with sweat, guiding him faster and firmer. “-Fuck, _fuck_ yes, Karkat, oh god-“

Dave’s hand fell away, coming up to cover his mouth and stifle a low moan. Karkat’s breathing was getting faster just watching him, admiring the way he fell apart under his control. Eyes closed, long lashes casting shadows on his cheeks. Head back and neck exposed, which was already spotting red and faint purple.  
“Ah- oh god, yes, Karkat, you’re… you… thank you, thank yhh- Jesus, I gotta kiss you now, please.” Both hands weaved in Karkat’s hair, Dave guided his chin up to kiss him crookedly on the side of the mouth. Karkat’s arm and wrist already felt stiff and sore from the angle, not to mention how off-kilter he felt balancing with just his knees, but nothing short of torture would have made him stop in the middle of reactions like that.

“Karkat,” Dave panted, eyes opening and meeting his again. “Karkat, I want- I, I need to make you feel like this. Is that okay? Can I do that for you?”  
Karkat’s heart sunk. He was becoming less and less sure that was going to be possible. He wanted it- oh, how he wanted it, but the best laid plans of smallbeast and Troll…  
“Okay,” he said, “Yeah, yes, I’d love that, Dave.”  
Dave put a hand on Karkat’s wrist to stop him, and then guided him to sit up, back against the wall. He licked his lips nervously, relishing Karkat’s form before him, but wary of the look in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” he asked softly, more coherent now that he wasn’t being touched. He put a hand on Karkat’s cheek and gave him a reassuring smile. “You know I was joking yesterday, right? If you’re uncomfortable with anything, just hit me up like, ‘Dave you’re being a shithead.’ I won’t be mad, or upset, or disappointed, okay, I promise. I just wanna make you happy, and make you feel good, but only if that’s what you want, too. You’re really important to me, alright? And I don’t want you to feel pressured to do shit just to make me happy, cuz- well, it wouldn’t, not unless you were.”

Karkat leaned forward to kiss him, arms going around his shoulders in an awkward semi-hug.  
“Trust me, I want this. I want you, just-” Karkat sighed. “You’re an alien. It’s just different, really different from what I’m ‘used’ to, and I’m not sure that we’re… ‘compatible’ that way. I thought- for a while, but- I’m not sure what I think anymore.”  
“Woah, okay, slow down,” Dave said. He pet Karkat’s back soothingly in small, slow circles, and was fascinated all over again by the texture of his skin. Thick like an animal hide or something, and sorta rough but still soft, like very fine sandpaper. “You thought… what? Paint me a word picture, cuz I’m lost.”

Karkat sighed again, a deep, all-consuming sigh.  
“Quadrants,” he said simply. He leaned back against the wall, slumping against it with his cheek pressed to the cool surface. “You know about the two concupiscent quadrants, flushed and caliginous. Well it’s not just emotionally that they’re distinct, for Trolls it’s physical too. Matesprit sexual relations are very different from that of kismeses, to the point where they involve entirely separate sexual organs.”  
“I see,” said Dave, who didn’t see.  
“The thing is,” Karkat continued, “it would be pretty straightforward if we were kismeses, but matesprit sex doesn’t involve penetration, and that seems fairly central to pretty much all the human porn I’ve seen.”

“Oh.” Dave frowned. “Oh, hm. HM, okay. Okay, but.” He put a hand on Karkat’s shoulder. “That’s whatever though, that’s porn, it’s not real. I don’t know this from experience or anything, but sex doesn’t have to be like, handjob, blowjob, first in the pink and then the stink. It’s just whatever two- or more, I guess- people do together to feel good. Not just a drumroll to a penis goin’ in an orifice. What I’m saying is, um. What, uh… Do… Do Trolls jerk it? How do you get yourself off?”

The red that had never fully left Karkat’s cheeks had returned in full force, and his mouth was slightly agape, showcasing a few choice teeth.  
“I guess… I could show you?” he said, raising an eyebrow.  
“Aw fuck, that’s hot,” Dave said enthusiastically.  
Karkat smiled nervously, and then reached to remove his underwear. A dark stain had seeped down the front, and for some reason this made Dave feel lightheaded and giddy. He gazed in fascination at the puzzle box he had just unearthed. He was piecing together crass troll vernacular and the baffling image before him like the world’s weirdest activity book matching game. Center stage, a mass of hard casing; like bone, he thought. Covering something maybe, for he couldn’t see anything he’d immediately describe as the fabled “nook.” Beneath that, and currently looking uncomfortably swollen were what he supposed were troll testicles, and above it where on a human you might find pubic hair were lines of membranous scales that reminded Dave of a snake’s belly. From between two of them, a semi-transparent, reddish liquid was oozing lazily.

“Sorry if I’m staring,” Dave said, “It’s just blowing my mind how beautiful you are.”  
Karkat punched him in the shoulder.  
“No, I mean it,” said Dave. “Ten out of ten. Best naked body I’ve seen today.”  
“Shut the fuck up,” Karkat said, laughing. “Stop being cheesy and ridiculous for ten fucking seconds so I can focus on doing this.”  
As his eyes fluttered closed, the last thing he saw was Dave’s grin.  
He took a deep breath, and let both hands slide between his thighs. His fingertips teased his swollen globes, first with light fleeting touches, then firmer, more deliberate. His lips pursed and then parted as his breathing became shallow, and then slowly something began to slide out of the gap between his scales.

Dave wasn’t sure what to call it. Like a thin, semi-opaque grey chord, soft and wet looking like the eye stalks of a snail, and covered in two to three inch long hollow fibers. The fibers, it seemed, were the source of the ooze. The only thing Dave knew for sure was that he had abso-fucking-lutely no clue what to do with it. Like Karkat had said, it didn’t look like it was going in any orifice, and it looked oddly delicate as well, not like something you could rub and touch.  
Karkat raised his other hand, and seemingly of its own volition, it began to curl around his wrist in a spiral. The fibers bent like a wet paintbrush, leaving smears of color over Karkat’s skin.  
“Dave…” Karkat sighed, his voice quavering.

Dave kissed him lightly, then slid over next to him, back against the wall and head tilting to rest on his shoulder.  
“You’re so fucking gorgeous, Kat, so fucking sexy it makes me ache to look at you.”  
Dave was pressed against him from shoulder to hip, and thigh to knee. One hand had slipped between his own legs, to stroke himself in time with Karkat’s harried breath. His other hand looped behind Karkat and came to rest on his upper thigh. “Can I…”  
“ _Yes_!” Karkat shouted.  
Dave’s hand replaced his between his legs, and the change in Karkat’s reaction was so sharp and so immediate Dave almost laughed. His head fell limply to rest on Dave’s and both legs kicked into the mattress, pressing his whole body back firmly against the wall and Dave’s arm. Dave brought his other arm over, and Karkat freed his own; there was a sticky, wet slurping sound and Karkat’s hand and forewarm were left looking like he’d dipped it in a bucket of paint. His stalk groped around aimlessly before finding Dave’s wrist and accepting it as the new target.

Dave was struck by how warm it was. Warm and wet, and pulsing gently with Karkat’s heartbeat. It wrapped around tight, too, and got tighter as his fingers moved faster. Karkat moaned openly, mouth agape and panting for breath. He blindly patted Dave’s thigh and then his stomach, trying to return the favor, but his legs were twitching and his coordination had taken a turn for the worst. Dave swore loudly when Karkat finally found his mark and began stroking him haphazardly, firm and fast and making his hips buck up into his palm.

“Fuck, Karkat, _fuck_ ,” Dave groaned. It was almost too much, or just enough.  
“Dave!” Karkat cried, “Dave I need a bucket. I need a fucking bucket right fucking now!”  
“What,” said Dave stupidly, but it was too late anyway. Color spilled like a wet rag being wrung dry, all over Dave’s arm and down onto Karkat’s chest and stomach in splatters. Karkat quivering beneath him set Dave off and he came so hard it hurt, with a tiny splatter of his own. He buried his face in Karkat’s shoulder and whimpered, feeling so whole and so close to him, like he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. His ears were ringing, and the only thing he could hear was Karkat gasping for breath.  
‘I love you,’ he thought, but didn’t say.

And then he really did start to laugh. He hugged Karkat lopsidedly and laughed and kissed every inch of him he could reach. Shoulder, neck, cheek- finally lips when Karkat turned his head. He looked a little dazed, thought Dave, but then, he _felt_ a little dazed.

It took a long time for the laughter to stop, and for both of them to catch their breath while Dave lazily mopped the cum and sweat up with a sheet. Then he rolled back onto the bed, and patted the spot next to him for Karkat, who obliged without complaint.

“Hey Karkat?” Dave said quietly, after another long period in which nobody spoke and nobody minded.  
“Hmm?” said Karkat, just managing to pry open one bleary eye.  
“I’m glad we’re not kismeses,” Dave whispered, even quieter. “I couldn’t do it. Hate you, I mean.”  
Karkat was silent, but both eyes were open now, tired and unreadable.  
“I could never hate you,” Dave repeated. “Not after knowing you. Hell, not even before when you were just some obnoxious fuck on the internet. Not in this timeline, or- or any other timeline, okay? I could never hate you, so don’t ever think that, don’t ever believe that I could, because it’s just not true.”  
Karkat nodded stiffly, but still said nothing. Dave turned his head to look at him and noticed with a flush of embarrassment that discolored red tears were welling up in his eyes.  
“Yeah,” Karkat said finally, voice harsh and choked. “Me too, Dave. Me too.”


End file.
